Clinical Decision Support for Service Coverage of AYA Palliative Care
A study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management addresses a persistent gap: adolescent and young adults (AYAs) with serious illness face unique psychosocial needs during hospitalization, which are underserved by existing palliative care programs. Though growing evidence supports volunteer-based peer psychosocial support programs as a core component of AYA palliative care, they often lack the tools to ensure consistent coverage. Researchers found that implementing a clinical decision support system (CDSS) displaying each patient's cumulative visit coverage was associated with an immediate 7.6 percentage-point increase in daily visit coverage across the patient census, reversing a pre-existing decline, and corresponding to approximately 440 additional patient visits per year. Volunteers found the tool helpful, reporting it directly influenced their patient selection, suggesting real-time visit data may offer a replicable, low-burden model for other volunteer-based palliative care programs.